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The purpose of this paper is to describe the results of a research study on eLearning across Europe. The aims are to identify the main focus of eLearning projects supported by the European Leonardo da Vinci programme and to give recommendations for the future.

The objectives were achieved in two different steps: First, the projects were categorized by the researchers according to an agreed set of criteria. This in turn led through the so‐called funnel methodology to a representative selection of eLearning projects which were evaluated more deeply by means of expert interviews.

The study showed that technical matters and narrowly‐defined subject areas still receive the most emphasis by eLearning developers. What is needed, however, is a stronger focus on the learners and their needs. The need for innovation in eLearning is not in the area of technological innovation, rather pedagogical innovation and increased value, for the learners need to play a more important role in eLearning projects.

This thematic monitoring should be seen as only a first step and needs to be continued to help steer the development of eLearning projects financed by the European Commission.

The main focus of the outcomes is the necessity of the enforcement of learner‐oriented approaches instead of technology‐driven approaches in order to create added value for the eLearners.

This project was the first overall European monitoring in the field of eLearning, analysing the actual changes in thinking on eLearning and defining clear recommendations for the future.

This chapter brings new knowledge on the effects of transformation in metropolitan and urban ruralities, as well as focus on social sustainability in these localities. The case study Sundom, Vaasa, Finland, highlights areas under pressure of transformation. ‘Metropolitan ruralities’ is used here as an umbrella concept, subdivided into metropolitan ruralities and smaller (non-metropolitan) urban ruralities. Qualitative and quantitative research methods are combined in a triangular study. An octagon figure (Fig. 4), including the main variables of the triangular study, is configured, to visualize different variables as a whole. The statistical material is more limited in urban ruralities – for example fewer property trades, less inhabitants and fewer voters – which make these case studies more vulnerable for the impact of extremes. The core of the chapter is to study how and if current global trends in metropolitan ruralities are visible in localities further down the urban scale. A stricter rural gentrification is expected in metropolitan ruralities than in urban ruralities, as the Sundom case exemplifies transformation with mild gentrification. Both metropolitan and urban ruralities are considered ‘breeding grounds’ for new rurban identities, with variations on an urban-rural scale. Metropolitan ruralities are expected to attract more exurbanite migrants, and urban ruralities attract more ‘exruralite’ migrants. This chapter also outlines some practical and social implications, argues for strengthening social sustainability in metropolitan ruralities and puts some much needed focus on transformation in metropolitan as well as non-metropolitan urban ruralities.

Product‐service systems (PSS) could potentially benefit consumers, but empirical studies of business‐to‐consumer PSS solutions have been scarce. The purpose of this paper is to identify conditions for consumer acceptance, and propose a methodology for PSS development.

Factors influencing consumer acceptance of PSS are investigated through focus groups and individual interviews, and elaborated in relation to theory from user acceptance and innovation adoption literature. Procedures for conceptual development of PSS are then proposed, based on methodology adapted from user‐centred design.

The two factors “impact on everyday life”, and “uncertainties” in anticipating such consequences were repeatedly brought up by participants. PSS affect consumers through practical implications for the activities they engage in. This goes beyond the service encounter, is highly complex and case specific why development processes should include iterative studies with consumers.

The studies use hypothetical PSS offers. Validation and refinement of the proposed methodology would require application in commercial development projects.

The proposed methodology is expected to support requirements elicitation, and facilitate early stages of PSS development.

This paper presents empirical findings regarding consumer acceptance, and provides a detailed analysis of factors that are central to PSS acceptance. It also introduces methodology for description and analysis of the complex consequences a solution may have from a consumer perspective.

In a recent article, Schaefer et al. (2015) argue that cultivating appropriate beliefs and values, cultivating systems thinking and encouraging responsibility are the stages to be followed to achieve sustainability-as-flourishing from an organizational perspective. This analysis forms the basis for the development and discussion of a conceptual model to educate undergraduate business students at a New Zealand University into responsible leaders who strive to enact sustainability-as-flourishing in organizations.

This paper critiques current approaches to sustainability which often reflect a narrow understanding of human needs and do not demand necessary transformation in the way we interact with the world around us. It then provides an overview of sustainability-as-flourishing, and its various stages, with relevant examples from business. This is followed by a discussion of the conceptual model, the pedagogical philosophies underpinning it and the teaching methods required for shifting business students’ mindsets towards this end.

This is a conceptual paper that offers a new teaching model for sustainability-as-flourishing. The paper concludes with suggestions for sustainability educators in business.

To date, sustainability-as-flourishing is underdeveloped in the business literature. This conceptual paper unpacks this notion further. Additionally, it provides a model for business educators to teach sustainability-as-flourishing. While some of these ideas and features have been described in the literature previously, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time they have been brought as a coherent whole under this broader and unique approach of sustainability-as-flourishing.

Published in June 2020, the European Union (EU) Taxonomy Regulation is an important tool for the reorientation of capital flows toward sustainability, establishing a classification system that enables investors to identify green economic activities. Confronted by the reporting demands of this regulation, companies are caught in a sustainability economic revolution. This study seeks primarily to understand firms’ responses to the EU taxonomy, and whether they recognize value creation opportunities by aligning market and nonmarket strategies with the taxonomy goals. For that, we conducted expert interviews and adopted a conceptual framework based on institutional theory, dynamic capabilities view and nonmarket strategy research. Our findings indicate that most firms respond reactively, while firms with sustainability-driven business models tend to respond in an anticipatory way, and firms with high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and low taxonomy eligibility in a defensive way. We also find evidence for mimetic isomorphism related to the influence of consulting and auditing services. Further, high levels of uncertainty, ambiguity and lack of clarity has a great impact on firms’ responses and motives. Finally, this study highlights the EU taxonomy considering a paradigmatic shift toward sustainability, which is not recognized by most firms. To this end, we find that most companies have not identified opportunities arising from nonmarket integration and, rather, see the taxonomy only as an extra regulation to be compliant with. Hence, we argue that it is crucial that firms contextualize the taxonomy within its larger institutional paradigmatic shift to capture the importance of going beyond mere compliance.

Purpose — To provide an overview of recent research that examined how search engine users evaluate and select Web search results and how alternative search engine interfaces can support Web users' credibility assessment of Web search results.

Design/methodology/approach — As theoretical background, Information Foraging Theory (Pirolli, 2007; Pirolli & Card, 1999) from cognitive science and Prominence-Interpretation-Theory (Fogg, 2003) from communication and persuasion research are presented. Furthermore, a range of recent empirical research that investigated the effects of alternative SERP layouts on searchers' information quality or credibility assessments of search results are reviewed and approaches that aim at automatically classifying search results according to specific genre categories are reported.

Findings — The chapter reports on findings that Web users often rely heavily on the ranking provided by the search engines without paying much attention to the reliability or trustworthiness of the Web pages. Furthermore, the chapter outlines how alternative search engine interfaces that display search results in a format different from a list and/or provide prominent quality-related cues in the SERPs can foster searchers' credibility evaluations.

Research limitations/implications — The reported empirical studies, search engine interfaces, and Web page classification systems are not an exhaustive list.

Originality/value — The chapter provides insights for researchers, search engine developers, educators, and students on how the development and use of alternative search engine interfaces might affect Web users' search and evaluation strategies during Web search as well as their search outcomes in terms of retrieving high-quality, credible information.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the application of soft systems methodology (SSM) to address the problematic situation of low opt-in rates for Precision Health-Care (PHC).

The design logic is that when trust is enhanced and compliance is better assured, participants such as patients and their doctors would be more likely to share their medical data and diagnosis for the purpose of precision modeling.

The authors present the findings of an empirical study that confronts the design challenge of increasing participant opt-in to a PHC repository of Electronic Medical Records and genetic sequencing. Guided by SSM, the authors formulate design rules for the establishment of a trust-less platform for PHC which incorporates key principles of transparency, traceability and immutability.

The SSM approach has been criticized for its lack of “rigour” and “replicability”. This is a fallacy in understanding its purpose – theory exploration rather than theory confirmation. Moreover, it is unlikely that quantitative modeling yields any clearer an understanding of complex, socio-technical systems.

The application of Blockchain, a platform for distributed ledgers, and associated technologies present a feasible approach for resolving the problematic situation of low opt-in rates.

A consequence of low participation is the weak recall and precision of descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytic models. Factors such as cyber-crime, data violation and the potential for misuse of genetic and medical records have led to a lack of trust from key stakeholders – accessors, participants, miners and regulators – to varying degrees.

The application of Blockchain as a trust-enabling platform in the domain of an emerging eco-system such as precision health is novel and pioneering.

Facing the aim of ecological sustainability only little emphasis has been placed on the fact that the extent of environmental stresses is not only a consequence of certain factual or structural conditions but also essentially determined by varying human behavior patterns. Technologies and structures are not ecologically effective by themselves; their environmental relevance strongly depends on the persons’ way of acting within the prevailing systems. Recognizing the importance of that perspective, psychological and social theories about the generation of personal behavior as well as theoretical models of learning can offer useful indications concerning the intrapersonal and extrapersonal preconditions of environmentally oriented acting. With reference to the decision‐making process of selecting a certain transportation mean, the influences of rational and emotional factors and obstacles to an ecologically sustainable personal act should be exemplarily demonstrated. At the same time very effective points of departure for behavioral change can be identified.

This paper aims to describe the development of a tailorable framework of practices for maintenance delivery (MD) and present a range of examples to demonstrate the tailoring process. The framework covers the entire scope of MD in detail, including several related subjects where significant business process interaction occurs. It offers a wide range of optional practices throughout, complete with expert guidance to enable tailoring based on the business context.

The framework was developed in two stages: firstly, via a review of existing MD processes from the literature to establish a preliminary version; this was then developed further via a Delphi study utilising the opinion of experts from industry to validate, critique and improve the initial framework design.

The completed framework was implemented and tested by the industrial sponsor of this research and was found to deliver significant improvement to their MD practices.

The tailorable nature of the framework means that it can be utilised by any business to design an MD process that is fully effective within their specific context. Alongside a tailored MD process, the framework will also generate a fully aligned implementation specification for the supporting computerised maintenance management system (CMMS), which is also tailored according to the same contextual requirements. This will enable the end user of the framework to procure, implement and configure a CMMS that has all of the functionality required to fully support their business requirements.

Innovation is delivered by combining a novel business process design tool with a software specification tool to solve a common industry problem (i.e. poor CMMS implementation).